PSY 124 PDF - Social Psychology Notes

1 Sept 5. Intro to social psychology Social brain hypothesis – our brains evolved to promote social connection, which was adaptive - Social connections give us better mental and physical health, l...

1 Sept 5. Intro to social psychology Social brain hypothesis – our brains evolved to promote social connection, which was adaptive - Social connections give us better mental and physical health, lengthen our lives, prevent early aging Social psychology: the scientific study of how individuals think, feel, and behave in a social context. scientific study → scientific method vs folk wisdom individuals → person-level, not society think, feel, behave → wide scope, not narrow social context → influence by/on others; real or imagined - People who have social connections live longer, happier, lower stress, better mental & physical health - Support system, more meaning, less isolation, experiences, connections to high institutions, active community, stimuli input, - People who read more have better understanding of empathy - People are less likely do something if they are paid to - People would be more likely to do something cruel if pushed to do so - Connecting with someone similar to you is more true than opposites attracting I knew it all along phenomenon: some findings seem like common sense but are actually the opposite Cultural psychology: All social psych research has a cultural context Not recognized until 1990s onward Culture: system of enduring meanings, beliefs, values, assumptions, institutions, and practices shared by a large group of people Individualistic vs collectivist focus Independent vs interdependent self-concept I am a part of tmu vs. i am a tmu psych student  2 Research methods Learning it will make you a better consumer of information You will develop a baloney detector Start with a hypothetical question or idea Start with Question Gather info & plan Design your study Theory: an organized set of principles used to explain observed phenomena - precise, efficient, explain all observations Hypothesis: explicit, testable, falsifiable prediction about what you will observe - based on theory Conceptual variables – the general topic, concept, idea (e.g., mood) - How would you measure age, height, depression in correlation to friends, attractiveness, creativity Operationalization: making the general specific – how are you defining and measuring the variable? Construct validity – degree to which you are actually measuring (or manipulating) what you intend to - How do you quantify empathy? How can we measure empathy? Are you measuring what you think you are measuring? Measurement Self-report – ask people to report their feelings, thoughts, beliefs, and actions. Pros: convenience, consistency Cons: social desirability, sensitive to changes in wording and scales, subject to memory distortion, dishonesty Observational research: watch actual behaviour. Pros: avoids social desirability and memory errors Cons: people may change beh if know they are observed Inter-rater reliability: level of agreement between multiple people on the same behaviour or measure. Why? Archival Research: Study existing documents or records to find patterns related to your variables of interest. e.g., crime reports, charitable giving, public surveys pros: good external validity, generalizability cons: no control over data collection, observer bias, random sampling FMRI- measure part of the brain that blood flow is active in Correlational research measures the association between variables that are not manipulated by the researcher Correlation coefficient (r )– number that represents how strongly related two variables are; ranges from -1.0 to + 1.0  3 Pros: can study topics ethically, view trends Cons: directionality, 3rd variable problem, correlation is not causation Experimentation: Gold standard for finding cause and effect 1) Random assignment to condition 2) Independent variables – what is manipulated 3) Dependent variables – what is measured Results: Internal reliability: degree to which the study is designed to make a cause-effect conclusion Confound: some unintended factor that influenced the results, varies with the independent variable Double blind: neither participant nor experimenter knows condition; avoids experimenter expectancy effects External reliability: would these results be found in different circumstances? Experimental realism – was the study real and engaging for the participant? Mundane realism – does the study resemble the real world? - Meta analyses and lit reviews - Replication crisis and open science Research ethics Research Ethics Boards Informed consent/Debriefing Deception & Confederates Funding and Conflicts  4 Sept 12. The social self Affect Behavioural Cognitive Self-Concept: the total sum of a person’s beliefs about their own attributes (like a library), made up of schemas - Like a library - Made up of schemas - malleable Self-schema: specific beliefs about yourself (like a book), you have many self-schemas; guide the way we think about things - Like a book that goes into a concept library - Guide the way we think about things - The way we act in social world Affective forecasting: predicting how you would feel in response to future events - You forget that you will have supports or hardships - You focus on only one thing & not other events Behavioural forecasting: predicting how you would act in a given situation. - We are not good at understanding reasons for our own behaviours - We underestimate the profound power of a situation Bem (1972) – you learn about yourself by watching your own behaviour. Self-perception theory: when internal cues are hard to see or interpret, we will look at our behaviour to understand ourselves Intrinsic motivation – engage in an activity because you enjoy it Extrinsic motivation – engage in activity because of reward/punishment - Can operate in same time Overjustification effect: when intrinsic motivation decreases when an external reward is provided - Experiment: play w markers Group 1. Kids play w markers Group 2. Offered a reward for colouring Group 3. Received unexpected reward - Told to colour again - No reward vs. unexpected reward still spent time colouring - Expected reward did it less  5 Social comparison theory: people evaluate their abilities and opinions by comparing themselves to others (Festinger, 1954) - Upward social comparison – compare to someone more successful - Ex. comparing tests, scores, pay - Downward social comparison – compare to someone less successful - Social media Autobiographical memory: memory of your own personal history - Distorted to inflate your achievements - Accomplishments, humour, emotional attachment to experiences - Focus on positive memories - Childhood… - Recency effect, with exceptions- recall more recent things more accurately - Flashbulb memories- certain world events- where we were personally Culture & self concept Individualistic – values independence, personal achievements, being unique, distinct Collectivistic – values interdependence, group cohesion, modesty - Different kinds of groups perception to things - Independent view vs. interdependent Where does the self concept come from? Introspection, Self-perception, Social comparison, Autobiographical memories, Culture Self esteem Self-esteem – an affective component of the self, made up of positive and negative self-evaluations, mostly stable over life, 8 different domains - Domains: academic, appearance, morality, romantic relationships, socially acceptable State vs. trait self esteem - Trait is generally more stable Sociometer theory – people are inherently social and want approval from others; self-esteem is related to how much we are accepted (Leary & Baumeister, 2000) - If you were rejected by everyone, you’d likely feel down ab it Self-Discrepancy Theory (Higgins, 1989) Who you are right now (actual self) - I'm trying tbh, but I know I care Who you ought to be (duties, responsibilities, obligations) - Dedicated, selfless Who would you like to be ideally? (ideal self) - More at peace with myself, less destructive  6 If these things differ, your self esteem will be lower- idk ab that for me Self-awareness theory: when you are made aware of yourself, you compare yourself to a high standard—usually reduces self esteem - mirror, bright lights, images of eyes - Cop driving by, being watched - aware of others perception & such changing behaviour - Halloween- bowl of candy w mirror- less kids took candy vs. no mirror Two outcomes: - Change behaviour to meet standards - Withdraw from self awareness (avoidance, self-medicating) - Use of some psychological escape to not face what you know you’re aware of Self enhancement tricks Better than average effect – tendency to believe that you are better than most people at various abilities - Vs. imposter syndrome Self-serving beliefs/bias – tendency to take credit for success and make excuses for failures Self handicapping - engaging in actions that will sabotage your performance Self-regulation: process by which people control their thoughts, feelings, desires, and behaviour to achieve a personal/social goal - limited resource that can be depleted Self-presentation: process by which you try to shape what other people think of you (and what you think of yourself) - aka “impression management” - Court, school - Strategic - to get power, influence, sympathy, approval - Goals: ingratiation, self-promotion Self-verification – the desire to have others see us as we truly perceive ourselves to be - People select and accept personality feedback that confirms what they believe about themselves, even if it is negative - Can conflict with self-enhancement motivation when self-concept is poor/negative Self-monitoring: tendency to regulate behavior to meet the demands of the social situation High self-monitors: have many selves to choose from, see it as pragmatic and flexible Low self-monitors: less concerned about what others think of their behavior, see selves as principled and honest